


I've been loving you for too long to just suddenly move on

by theshipstorulethemallwrites



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: 5 Times, Breaking Up & Making Up, Coming Out, Coming Untouched, Estrangement, Fluff, Getting Back Together, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Meddling, POV Outsider, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-09-25 21:32:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17129108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshipstorulethemallwrites/pseuds/theshipstorulethemallwrites
Summary: Noah and Jack got married young and broke it off. during the 2018-2019 their teams discover this romance and realize "oh that's why his smile never meets his eyes, he's still in love with his husband"and shenanigans ensue





	I've been loving you for too long to just suddenly move on

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taxingme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taxingme/gifts).



> This was an absolute pleasure to write and I really hope that you enjoy it.
> 
> Thanks to S, S, J and P for the feedback. Thanks also to early 2000s alternative and current pop for providing the soundtrack I used while writing here . 
> 
> Title comes from I Knew You When by Marianas Trench. Also this is 10,054 words, which are multiples of 5 and 9 because I am romantic trash.
> 
> None of this belongs to me, the vast majority is my own creative license and any (accurate) factual information is searchable via the internet. I gave up keeping the schedule correct so uh, there's that.

  1. Noah



 

Noah hasn’t ever been nervous during a post-game bus ride back to the hotel. Not until he’s in Buffalo and someone who knows exactly what he used to wear on the silver chain he always wears on his neck is sitting beside him. Part of him wants to go see Jack, part of him wants to go suck his best friend and husband off for scoring the game winning goal like he used to do back during the NTDP days, back during their Boston days when they were rivals, back before the NHL forced them further apart than they ever imagined being and wrecked them. But he scored that goal against Noah, with Noah on the fucking ice. And still, want simmers in Noah’s gut.

 

They get off the bus and Noah likes being in Buffalo overnight almost as much as he likes being in Carolina, which is to say, not at all. There’s too much temptation and it’s even greater now that he’s on a team with Johnny and Matty, two guys who will want to drag him off to see Jack. Matty’s going to the worst about this, typical Tkachuk. He pulls himself off the wall he’s been leaning on to get his key and stares at the hotel bar longing. He rarely drinks more than a few beers or shots but right now he wants to forget the way that Jack had looked at him over Skinner’s head as they’d been celebrating the win. It looked similar to the way his eyes had been blown wide the first time Noah had ever whispered his plans for Jack during the bus ride back to Ann Arbor 5 years ago. God, he can still remember the way Jack had squirmed in his seat until Noah had pressed down hard on his thigh. The thrill of making Jack nearly come undone in public.

 

The ice, the NHL, it had frozen the heat from both of the them until they almost lost everything. Until they’d almost lost each other for good. Luckily, they’d both managed to stay friends, albeit a bit stilted ones.

 

So yeah, all Noah wants is the bar and several vodka tonics but he’s not going to get any of that because Chucky turns to him and asks loudly, “Man, why do you have a key? Tell Jack we need you to be able to play this week.”

 

“Why would I need to tell Jack that?” Noah asks, not thinking that Chucky is Chucky and unless it’s about his own relationship has no filter.

 

Matty just makes the sex sign with his fingers and Noah sighs, cuffing Chucky on his head, “dude, we’re not together.”

 

“You’re fucking married Hanny.”

 

“So.”

 

“Wait, Hanny you’re married?” Jonny demands.

 

Ugh, this is why Noah wanted to go to the damn bar and not talk.

 

“Yes, I am. We’re not together anymore.”

 

Gio raises an eyebrow, “and they live in Buffalo?”

 

Noah just nods, jesus fucking christ, someone is going to figure it out. Someone is going to figure that after winning gold in 2014, he and Jack had gotten caught in the rain and Noah couldn’t stop from blurting out that he wanted Jack with him for the rest of their lives. Then Jack had blushed red, a soft red that Noah hadn’t ever seen before and he’d thought that he had seen every type of blush that Jack could have, and his boyfriend had pulled two silver rings out of his wallet and said, “looks like we had the same idea.”

 

Someone’s going to figure that the memory of getting married, still soaked from the rain, is the one that Noah lingers on when he starts getting really down. That Noah misses Jack like he’s missing a limb.

 

He keeps his mouth shut, hoists his bag and glares fiercely at Matty as he heads straight to his room. Damn it, there better be a mini-bar in there. He’s got the money and he’ll use it. He can hear the boys still yelling after him and he just - there are things he can deal with and for right now that’s losing. That is not Jack or questions about Jack.

 

He’s opening the door to his room when he hears footsteps behind him and turns around to Travis panting, clearly having just run up 3 flights of stairs.

 

“Hey I just wanted to say sorry, we shouldn’t have.”

 

“You really shouldn’t have. I know it’s not everyday that you find out a teammate is married, but really.”

 

Noah walks into the room, flings himself down on the bed and looks up at his defensive partner who’s just leaning against the dresser, arms folded, “To be fair to you guys though, Chucky really should have thought.”

 

“Hanny, man, Chucky is the most impulsive kid I’ve ever seen.”

 

Noah really really wants to bite back something about Auston, something about how fucking tender and gentle Aus and Matty are with each other, something about how Matty spent years with his heart hanging out of his chest just waiting for Auston to do something. Yeah, Matt is impulsive as fuck on the ice, but when it comes to other people’s hearts he so careful that it makes Noah ache sometimes.

 

But that would be revealing too much and Noah won’t do that so he just laughs and leans back on the bed and smacks a pillow over his face.

 

Travis just sighs, “Ok bud, we’re having dinner and then a bunch of us are going to play Fortnite after, join us.”

 

“I’mma get drunk.” Noah mumbles into the pillow.

 

He can tell that Travis just knows that he said something, not what he said because Travis just taps Noah’s leg and then leaves. Noah heaves himself off the bed, unscrews a couple of the bottles stuck in the fridge and downs them like he would shots.

 

He leans back on the bed, feels the alcohol rush through his system and even though it might be imaginary, he feels like some weight has been lifted. He grins up at the ceiling and is about to shut his eyes and try to sleep until they get to leave Buffalo, he hears a knock on the door.

 

He opens it to see Elias, standing there, shifting around like he’s just been pacing.

 

“Come on in man, I take it you have questions.”

 

“Hanny, duh.”

 

Lindy sits on the edge of bed, “why didn’t you tell us? How does Chucky know?”

 

“I didn’t tell anyone and uh, Chucky was there when we got married.”

 

“Hanny, we’ve been on the same team for four years, we got traded together, you really didn’t think you could trust me?”

 

Noah slides a hand through his hair, frustrated and slightly angry, “Lindy, I didn’t tell anyone because by the time there was anyone new to tell, we’d ended it.”

 

“You or her?”

 

Ugh, hockey players. Noah wants to shout to the world about Jack, about how his husband, yeah that was two male honorifics in the same two words, is so fucking good. Look he went to college, just because he spent most of it playing hockey doesn’t mean that the girls in his classes that yelled at him for being an idiot didn’t leave an impression about not making assumptions.

 

“We drifted apart the summer after the draft and I woke up in Carolina, mid season, to a text from them basically saying this isn’t working. And it wasn’t, neither of us were putting in the time. It’s not that we didn’t love each other.”

 

His voice trails off as Lindy taps his wrist. He looks down and realizes that he’s been clenching his fist. It’s the first time that Noah has really spoken with anyone about what went down. The stillness, the silence, the slow loss of the one person he had believed would always be with him.

 

“Dude, that sucks. Why’d you get married then?”

 

And of course that’s the question his mom had asked when he’d come home during the all-star break his first season, noticeably missing his ring.

 

Noah doesn’t have a good answer to that question that doesn’t make him and Jack sound like the teenagers they were, full of hope and promise to each other. It was and still is magical to be around Jack and Noah doubts that he’ll ever truly get over him but dammit, he’s got to start trying.

 

He just shrugs, giving the answer that Lindy expects, “the sex was really good.”

 

Noah sighs, flinging himself against the pillows, because yeah, the sex, the feeling of Jack around him, there was nothing better.

 

Apparently the longing can be seen in his face because Lindy ruffles his hair and glances around the room, eyes finally falling on the several empty mini-bottles of alcohol which Noah had consumed.

 

“You still in love with them huh?”

 

Noah just nods miserably, curling around the pillow and Lindy seems to take it as the dismissal it is. He hears the door close and finally lets a couple of tears fall before shutting his eyes and falling asleep. When he wakes, he’ll be that much closer to leaving, even if it means leaving another piece of his heart nestled with the rest of them in Jack’s hands.

 

  1. Jeff



 

It’s not as though Jeff doesn’t stay in touch with the guys from the ‘Canes but he’s still surprised when near the end of November - after just having won 10 games straight, becoming the top team in the entire fucking league - he hears from Lindy via text.

 

Lindy: _Hey Skins, congrats on the streak! ? did u know about Jack and Hanny?_

Me: _That they’re friends, you’d have to blind to miss that bud_

Lindy: _shit man just call me_

 

He’s pretty sure this going to turn out to be nothing, Lindy was always a drama queen but most of the time, what he said had bits of truth to it. He knows the way that Jack pays attention to Hanny’s play. But most people pay attention to their junior boys, especially when they grew up together. PK, Stammer and JT are a great example, or so he’s heard about anyway.

 

“Prepare to be shocked,” Elias says in lieu of a hello, and Jeff can hear the delight in his voice. So he waits, fiddling with his hands on the steering wheel.

 

He raises an eyebrow and right as he opens his mouth, Lindy speaks, “so your captain and Hanny are exes.”

 

“What?” Jeff chokes out. And god dammit, he fucking knew something was weird about the way Hanny had acted the first time they ever played the Sabres - half ecstatic, half terrified. He’d filed it away at the time but the way Hanny had disappeared after the game and come back devastated, that was something Jeff was intimately familiar with. Things are slowly piecing together.

 

But still the fact that they’re exes isn’t enough to warrant a phone call, Lindy hates phone calls, he basically communicates exclusively in text and emojis. It’s just confirmation of something Jeff had always suspected.

 

He’s about to say something to that effect but Lindy continues before he can, “ex-husbands”

 

“Ex WHAT?” Jeff demands, nearly spilling his coffee. Jesus he’s about to go to lunch with the guy, he’s about to see Jack and have to deal with this knowledge.

 

“We got Noah drunk and pulled it out of him. Apparently Hanny asked, but Eichel had been carrying around the rings. Also Chucky was there and he confirmed. Anyway, it’s pretty fucking clear that Hanny is still ridiculously in love with Eichel and I was wondering if you could see if it’s the same with Eichel.”

 

“And then we get them back together?” Jeff just wants to make sure, cause he’s pretty damn sure that Eichs is still in love with Hanny. There’s always something missing in Eichs’s smile, a tightness that even beautiful hockey can’t take away and Jeff had seen Wilson’s face after Latta had been traded, Jack wears the same lines, ones you can really spot if you know what to look for. He can’t let either of them get hurt even worse, if he can help it.

 

Lindy makes a affronted noise, “Who do you take me for? That was rhetorical Skins, don’t answer that. Yes, of course we get them back to happily married bliss.”

 

There’s a yell from Lindy’s phone, muffled but clearly audible. Lindy sighs and quickly mutters, “I gotta go but let me know what you find out.”

 

Jeff nods and then realizes that Elias can’t see him, “sure man.”

 

The phone goes dead and Jeff realizes he has 10 minutes to drive to Jack’s place before he’s late. Right before he pulls back on the road, he checks the schedule and sees that, perfect, the Flames have the afternoon game this week. He’ll just ask the guys to put it on, use the excuse of ex teammates if anyone pushes, which he doubts.

 

And instead of paying attention to Noah’s play, he’ll just watch Jack’s face. He knows very well that even if it was a shitshow by the end, it’s near impossible to hide the heart-eyes during a particularly sweet play. And Jack to those who know what to look for is almost more obvious than Segs and Benny are with each other. And those two have been called out in public by the media and the commentators during fucking games about the level of their adoration.

 

He gets to Jack’s, grins and heads inside. He spots Jack in the kitchen and walks over, saying “Yo cap don’t you want to watch _your_ boy? Put on the game.”

 

Jack laughs, but ducks his head, seemingly focused on getting the snacks but Jeff knows its to hide the blush coloring his cheeks. Too bad it reaches his neck, so Jeff can definitely tell that Eichs 100% knows exactly who Jeff is talking about.

 

He tunes the game out, chatting with Reino and Hutts, until he hears Jack give a shout of “fuck yeah!”

 

He turns and nearly cackles when the replay shows number 55 scoring a goal. It’s his first one in a Flames uniform and it’s a fucking shorty.

 

“Hanny’s got slick hands, doesn’t he?” Jeff calls out, grinning when Eichs only nods. He can’t not smirk, especially when he sees just how red the back of Jack’s neck is. He’s clearly thinking about moments when Hanny and slick hands were an off the ice _intimate_ experience and hoo boy, Jeff needs to stop that train before it leaves the station. Definitely not something he needs to be thinking about.

 

He settles on the couch, holds up his hand and receives a high five from a grinning Jack.

 

“That was a sweet goal.” Jack says, adding with an air of wistfulness, “he did that at BU against us once, I couldn’t decide how I wanted to react.”

 

If he knew for sure what Eichs was implying here, he could make fun of his captain so fucking hard. But he’s not absolutely positive so Jeff just wiggles his eyebrows and smirks, taking a swing of his beer in a long pull. Jack flushes, so Jeff knows he’s hit the mark.

 

He’s happy for Noah, finally scoring a goal and getting monkey of his back but the satisfaction of knowing that Noah’s hockey still does something to Jack is almost better. Because this he can use in his quest to get them back together. It’s especially useful because after several great chances from both teams Hanny gets another goal, this time on the power play and Jack literally jumps out of his seat and fist pumps. It’s a level of excitement that Jeff has only seen for overtime game winning goals from his captain and to see it for a player on another team..

 

Well, that says a lot about Jack and just how much he’s still in love with Hanny. He sends a text to Elias.

 

Me: _Operation Back Together is 100% a go. The way J reacted during N’s goals was legit_ 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

 

He doesn’t expect a response because the game’s still going and he turns to talk to Reino who’s seated on the edge of the couch.

 

The game ends and he sees that Jack is pouting on the couch.

 

“Come on man, they won. Why are you pouting?” Hutts asks, and Jack just blushes a bit. He stammers out something that’s basically gibberish before muttering, “I wanted Noah to get a hat trick.”

 

Jeff knows the expected response is for him to agree and he does but still the opportunity to tease Jack is too great to pass up.

 

He just smirks, “so you could reward him?”

 

Dear god, Jack’s dumbfounded face is amazing.

 

This is going to be so much fun.

 

  1. Matt



 

Look, Matt knows that Noah knows that the team is trying to get him and Jack back together. None of them have been that subtle about it, especially having either the tv or the radio constantly tuned to the Sabres games whenever they’re playing and the pointed insinuations that the young guys can do well but Smitty and Gio, well they’re hopelessly bad at it.

 

That doesn’t stop him from bullying Noah into dinner with him and Auston when they’re in Toronto. It’s after an overtime win so no one’s in a terrible mood and Noah’s willing to be around them. But as they get in the uber to meet Auston at one of his favorite steak places, Matt can tell that Noah starts having doubts.

 

Especially when he says, “Chucky, seriously man, you and Matts should have alone time, don’t let me intrude.”

 

Matty grins, he’s not letting Noah out of this conversation, “I’m heading to his house after, got a curfew exception for Toronto. You should get one for Buffalo.”

 

“Bro, Jack and I aren’t together, for the thousandth time”

 

“Dude, I was there when you got married, feelings like that don’t just disappear.”

 

Noah sighs and presses his head to the window, Matt can’t help the smirk that winds its way on his face, “What do you want me to say then? That I still love him? That I’m still in love with him? Because yes, I fucking am.”

 

Matt waits until Noah fully turns his head against the window and shuts his eyes to pull out his phone and text the group chat that Lindy had formed between the Sabres and the Flames for the purpose of getting Jack and Noah back to, as Skinner had put it, “happily married bliss”. It’s currently titled IDIOTS!!!!

 

Me: _soooo Noah just said he’s still in love with Jack_

Cap: _we knew this_

Johnny Hockey: _stating the obvious much_

Skinner: _dudes this is the first time either of them has said those words out loud_

Reinhart: _does this mean we bring in the siblings???_

Monny: _are we that close?_

Lindy: _shouldn’t we wait til playoffs_

Hutton: _Lindholm, if we wait until then we’re all screwed and going to be living with their bs for another FOUR MONTHS_

Reinhart: _if we make playoffs, which is likely, Jack’s not going to want to focus on anything else_

Me: _phase four starts now_

Hutton: _👍_

Reinhart: _^^^_

Lindy: _🔥_

Johnny Hockey: _🔥🔥🔥_

 

Matt grins in satisfaction as the car pulls to a stop in front of a restaurant that Auston, in fact, has taken him to several times. They get to the private table, tucked away in the back and even still Auston glances around the room with a wary eye before pressing a soft kiss to Matt’s lips, quick and barely there.

 

As happy as Matt is for Auston and his success and the passion of the Toronto fans, he still misses the quiet moments they’d stolen in Ann Arbor or in Arizona, even in public. Matt had at least been able to kiss Auston back in those days when they weren’t even close to what they are now. Look, Matt’s positive that Auston’s it for him and they get basically two days together eight months out of the year, not being able to kiss him or touch him is the absolute worst. He knows that he’s pouting, even as Auston pulls out his chair and runs a hand over his shoulders.

 

“Babe, I’m taking you home when we finish dinner, don’t pout.”

 

Matt smirks and Noah chuckles fondly at the two of them. They order dinner quickly, it’s steak and green beans and butternut squash. Mostly normal steakhouse food, except Matt gets truffles and Auston grins at him. One of their first dates included Auston getting shaved truffles on nearly every item and ever since then it’s been their small way of saying “I love you.”

 

Noah asks Auston about his sisters and teases him for his friendship with the Marleau kids, which Matt loves and very seriously worries about his heart slowly been melting when he sees photos of his boyfriend with kids.

 

But it gives him an in.

 

“Hanny, how’s your brother and sister?”

 

“Good, I actually got a text from them just as we sat down, mind if I look?” Hanny says, already pulling his phone towards him before Auston can start nodding.

 

Matt knows that phase four involves getting their siblings involved with the meddling but Hanny’s siblings are younger. It isn’t like with Jess Eichel who knows incredibly well exactly what to do to get her brother to snap. Apparently he should have faith in all siblings, including much younger ones because when he finally manages to tear his eyes away from the movement of Auston’s throat as he swallows some wine to see Noah literally spit water onto his bread plate and blush madly. It’s a blush that almost rivals the one that Auston had gotten when they’d gotten caught by Rielly the previous season, making out pretty desperately in a storage closet after the Leafs morning skate and in the 10 minutes before Matt was meant to be on the ice.

 

“What’s got you blushing Hanny?” Auston asks, a smirk that only Matt can notice flashing across his lips before he adds, “Jack sending you filth about that goal?”

 

Noah flushes even further, shakes his head and Matt reaches out and squeezes Auston’s thigh. He’s really glad that his boyfriend picked up on the meddling. The rest of dinner is mainly spent just talking about the rest of the league, the fact that they’re all making the playoffs and baseball. It’s good night and Auston slings an arm around Matt’s waist as they head out, the two of them waiting with Noah as he gets his uber, even though Auston’s pressing kisses to the back of Matt’s neck. It’s a clear promise of things to come and Matt shivers in delight.

 

When Noah’s car arrives, Matt hugs him quickly and leans against the wall to watch Auston and Noah say goodbye. Hanny sighs and rolls his eyes at whatever Auston is telling him, which clearly isn’t the reaction that Auston wants because he slugs Noah in the arm and raises an eyebrow. Matt knows well how intimidating Auston can be and he’s clearly trying to get Noah to see something. Noah eventually gives in, nods at Auston and hugs him. Auston turns back to Matt, grin widening and he presses a kiss to Matt’s lips, dirty and promising even if it’s quick, once they are in Auston’s ridiculously extravagant sports car. They head back to Auston’s house for the night and Matt ends up nearly missing the flight back to Calgary because his boyfriend just hates to see him go.

 

  1. Jack



 

Jack is sure of only a few things in life and one of them is that he will always love Noah. The fact that they’ve spent as much time being broken up as they spent married only serves to make that fact ever more clear.

 

He needs to tell him. Needs to slip the ring from the box on his bedside table so it once again rest on his skin. They both made the playoffs, and somehow the moments that are milestones for hockey have always been intertwined with milestones for his relationship with Noah. They did get married after winning gold together, after all.

 

He grabs his phone, finger hovering over Noah’s name and he almost presses down. But no, this can’t be done over the phone. He’s a millionaire, he can get a last minute cross country, international flight to go ask his husband to take him back. He checks the schedule very briefly, sees that the team leaves for the California road trip tomorrow anyway, which means the next two days he has off. Luckily, they had one of those weird early afternoon games today so he can just leave now.  He can explain his absence later.

 

He knows that Noah’s on a homestand, only because he’d watched the game where they played the Oilers the night before. Noah had beat McDavid, stripped the puck from him and gotten a breakaway and gone top shelf on Talbot to put the Flames up one. That hadn’t been the game winning goal but Jack is absolutely not ashamed to admit that he’d jerked off last night thinking about Noah’s smirk as he cellied. First off all, an unassisted goal is hot af. Second of all, he and Connor may be friends but still, the competition is never quite over. Finally, that’s his husband wearing a smirk that Jack has seen directed at him countless of times off the ice, it’s fucking filthy and he’s got associations alright.

 

But it’s not just wanting Noah surrounding him again, he’s tired of looking around a big empty house and remembering that he actually has someone to share this life with. Yeah, that someone is on the other side of the country, but still. What is Jack’s is Noah’s and that means that even if it’s only his name on lease, some of the decorating that he’d done was subtly influenced by his still burning love for the blonde. He knows that there’s a reason there’s large empty spaces on the wall. Everyone, especially his mom, has commented on the fact that it doesn’t feel lived in or like home with white walls and no decorations on most of the house.

 

He’s still waiting for Noah to come home, still waiting to be able to exchange keys like they had during NTDP with their billet houses, still waiting to be able to put up his favorite photo of the two of them. He’s just still waiting for something that he needs to take action on. He can’t simply keep looking for the puck like he expects it to magically appear on his stick, he has to move into the right position.

 

So he gets on a plane, gets in a car, drags Noah’s address out of Matts who definitely has it because of him and Chucky and how much Matts is in Calgary, and silently prepares for the possibility that Noah doesn’t want him. He knows that they’ve been stilted, that he’s been trying to save his heart. He knows that he broke Noah’s heart when he finally said the words they’d both been thinking back during their first seasons. It was enough to be friends again but now Jack is asking for Noah to let him in fully. Now Jack is asking Noah to give him his heart again. His own is pounding louder than the first time Noah had kissed him after they’d slowly inched closer together at the Bruins game they’d gone to on their first official date. They’d been fairly well known but they could still be public about their affections, especially because they had been in the 2nd bowl and slightly more private.

 

He’s finally at Noah’s house, staring at the door like he can will it open. Oh god, he’s going to have to ring the doorbell. He doesn’t even know which window is Noah’s, so he can’t be romantic and throw rocks at it like a Shakespeare play or some shit. Which for the record, he totally would. He walks up the final few steps, takes a deep breath and presses the doorbell once. He’ll wait for a long time for Noah but he’ll only press the doorbell once, he’ll knock and if he has to he’ll beg Chucky to let him in. He turns to pretend to be walking up the first time but it turns out that was unnecessary because Noah opens the door, blond hair hidden under a USA snapback.

 

“Jack.” he says, sounding stunned and Jack smiles just a little.

 

“Hey.”

 

“What are you doing here? Don’t you have a game?”

 

“For the first time in our lives, fuck hockey.” Jack whispers, more to himself than to Noah but Noah hears him anyway because he chuckles, shaking his head and looking down at his feet, trying hard not let Jack see the grin that they both know he’s wearing.

 

“Noah, I’m an idiot, we both know how much I put into hockey and I guess I forgot to keep you and hockey separate. But the thing is, you make me want to be better so I’m standing here in fucking Canada when I should be in California, asking you to forgive me. And you just made the playoffs and when I saw the news all I could think of is that you’re succeeding and I’m succeeding but we’re doing it apart and god it sucks. I miss you all the time and I want you back.”

 

Jack finishes, out of breath, heart pounding like he’s just played all five minutes of overtime. He stand there, rain drenching him and Noah just gapes at him, not saying anything. The silence is overpowering and eventually Jack says, “If I have to get hypothermia waiting in the rain until you forgive me for being an idiot, baby I’ll wait all night.”

 

“I didn’t think you could do anything to surprise me anymore,” Noah responds through the open door.

 

Jack takes enough steps to reach the porch, and stands there, waiting for Noah to either slam the door in his face or let him in. He takes a deep breath, eyes gazing into Noah’s fucking beautiful baby blues, and bites his lip before whispering, “I love you. Noah, let’s get married again.”

 

He’s so close he can feel the breath of Noah’s exhale at his words, see the pupils of his eyes darkening in shock, and hear the thundering of Noah’s heart, beating in time with his.

 

But Noah doesn’t step back to let him in, Noah steps forward, cups his hand on Jack’s chin and tilts his face upwards. There’s a pause, a moment where Jack dares to let his thoughts turn to a nightmare of Noah rejecting him, but that fear is wiped away when Noah closes the final few centimeters between them, pressing his lips to Jack’s. It’s firm and patient, demonstrating just what makes Noah such a good defenseman. Jack’s a center through, he knows how to read a play and he’s had a lifetime to learn how to excel at reading Noah. He knows exactly, even after two years apart, what the press of Noah’s fingers on his hip mean. He presses into it, biting on Noah’s lower lip, asking for what Noah’s always been willing to give him. The kiss doesn’t stay chaste long after that, Jack’s hand reaching up to curl around Noah’s neck, play with the wisps of hair there while Noah’s hand moves from his hip to his ass. Eventually they stop being able to survive from pulling air out of the others lungs as they kiss and they break apart just long enough for Jack to entangle their hands and Noah to kick the door open and lead them inside.

 

“What do you want Noah?” Jack manages to ask before Noah surges up to kiss him.

 

“Just, I can’t believe you’re actually here Jack,” Noah whispers out, hands shaking a little as they stroke the skin where Jack’s shirt has ridden up. Jack reaches down and squeezes one of his hands as Noah tries to shove himself back in Jack’s space, looking kinda aggravated as Jack presses their heads together and refuses to let him get to his lip and then he whines out, “jesus christ, just keep kissing me.”

 

“As you wish, sweetheart.” Jack murmurs, pulling his head back to let Noah claim what’s always been his.

 

Jack’s strong ok, but he has no familiarity with Noah’s house, so for now he lets Noah led them up the stairs to his bedroom, pressing kisses to the back of his neck all the while. Eventually when they get the house in Boston they’d talked about after the draft, Jack is just going to carry Noah up to bed all the time. Once they get to Noah’s bedroom though, well Jack picks up Noah and tosses him on the bed, Noah’s laughter ringing through the otherwise silent house. He looms over Noah, hands fisted in the comforter as he lowers himself to press a kiss first to Noah’s forehead, then to his nose, then to mouth briefly at his jawline, then to hover over his lips, a smirk on his face. Noah gets impatient and pulls Jack down, his leg slotting between Noah’s and his lips eagerly meeting his husband’s. Noah’s hands roam his back, pushing up his shirt and Jack breaks away to sit up and throw the shirt across the room.

 

They end up giggling, pressed against each other when Noah’s shirt lands on the lamp and it teeters before landing upright. Jack’s eyes trace Noah’s abs, the hair leading to his dick, the flush of his shoulders, and his hands dig even more into Noah’s sides. He knows that he’s going to leave bruises and he knows that Noah’s hands stratching down his back are definitely going to leave marks. As much as Jack wants to blow Noah, wants to feel the weight of his dick in his mouth, wants his taste filling him up, wants Noah’s hands tangled in his hair, wants to hear the desperate moans that he still can hear perfectly, he doesn’t want to stop kissing his husband. Noah’s clearly thinking the same thing because he slots them so their dicks are rubbing against each other.

 

“Pants.” He mutters into Jack’s mouth and Jack reaches down, takes a moment to squeeze Noah’s ass before yanking them down. He ends up having to help Noah take his pants off because, well, Jack’s in jeans and they never go down easy off of thick hockey thighs. Noah smirks, eyes never leaving him as he watches Jack try to kick off his own pants. He eventually gets them off and presses his lips to Noah’s collarbone, intent on leaving a mark. Noah groans, fingers tangling in Jack’s curls and pulling.

 

“Come on, kiss me you jerk.” Noah whispers, and Jack nips at his lower lip for a second, pulling away just to hear the way Noah whines. His other hand is palming Jack’s ass and Jack groans, pressing his lips to Noah’s again as he can feel himself getting louder. Noah’s rolling his hips, rutting their dicks together and Jack moans helplessly, hand tangling in Noah’s hair while the other digs into his hip, fingers for sure leaving bruises that will last for weeks. He can't wait. Noah’s hand slaps down on his ass just as their dicks rub together again and Jack can’t help the way Noah’s name slips from his mouth, loud and desperate.

 

“Like that huh?” Noah mutters, Jack’s mouth buried in his neck as he tries to quiet himself. He nods a tiny bit but he doesn’t have to look to know that Noah’s grinning widely. Jack bites down, causing Noah’s smirk to transform into a helpless groan and Jack smiles, teeth forming a mark on Noah’s neck, right under where his jersey collar would rest. Jack can feel the precum dipping on the bed as they continue to rut into each other, their moans carrying through the rest of the house whenever they manage to pull away from each other’s lips.

 

“ _Noah, fuck, Noah,"_ Jack gasps out, fingers scrambling up Noah’s back to grab hold of his shoulders as he feels his orgasm barreling over him. He’s shaking with it, only really able to say Noah’s name as he comes, mouth pressed desperately against Noah’s, open and more of panting than actual kisses.

 

“Jack, hey baby,” Noah whispers, letting them stay quiet and wrapped up in each other but Noah’s dick is still red and leaking, so hard and Jack wants it in his mouth, but Jack’s useless after he’s come and he just kinda gestures weakly from where he’s resting on top of Noah.

 

“Can I jerk off on you, baby?” Noah asks, and Jack, jesus, he can’t move, he can’t really form words yet but there is no amount that he can say to express just how okay he is with that plan, with being covered in Noah, with being Noah’s again. Noah rolls them over and sits up between Jack’s spread legs, one hand tracing Jack’s abs, one hand on his dick. His hair is a mess, matted with sweat and sticking up. His lips are red and swollen and Jack doesn’t want ever want to look away.

 

Noah’s fingers are playing with his dick, twisting so it drips cum onto Jack’s chest, Jack’s hand reaching up from where it’s caught in the sheets to grasp at Noah’s neck, fingers playing with his hair.

 

“Noah, come on.” Jack groans out, the other hand reaching so it’s top of Noah’s, stroking him off and that does it. He remembers well how long Noah can prolong his orgasm but today that’s not something he wants. Maybe in the summer, when they’re at the Cape.

 

“Fucking shit, _Jack_ , oh god.”

 

“Come on sweetheart, come for me.” Jack whispers, keeping his eyes locked on Noah as his husband throws his head back and spills all over Jack’s abs. Noah falls forward and Jack rolls away just in time to avoid getting crushed. Jack curls into Noah, runs his hand over his husband - fuck his husband’s - hair and presses his head on Noah’s heart. Noah drops a kiss to Jack’s forehead and Jack feels so fucking content. He looks up at Noah and grins. He can’t help the words that come out of his mouth, “I love nothing in the world as much as I love you.”

 

“Are you quoting Shakespeare? You absolute sap.”

 

Noah’s arm tighten around Jack and he presses a kiss to Jack’s lip, slow and wonderful and Jack just wants to live here forever.

 

  1. PR



 

Anne walks into the visiting locker room as the Leafs are all piling up on top of each other. It was an incredibly high scoring game, 2 hat tricks, 9 players with multiple point game and a final score after overtime of 10-9, Flames loss. She’s still grinning though, to play this well against the defending Champions is something they should be proud of. Most of the players walk in, she knows that despite it being Toronto, Matt’s 3 goal, 2 assist night earned him second star of the night and that he’s definitely going to wait until Matthews skates off for first star honors to come back to the room. She starts getting antsy though when Coach is done with the media and she’s opening the door to let them in and the captain of her team still isn’t in his stall, ready to take questions. Hell, she has some questions for him about the way he’d reacted to Matthews’ hat trick and subsequent celebration of sliding to his knees right in front of the Flames bench, an impressive display of swearing that anyone watching could tell was getting ripped from his mouth. The media seems to take note of Matt’s absence, shrug, and go interview Johnny and Sean about their four point nights.

 

Anne, however, keeps one eye on the scrums, ready to do her job and protect her players, and one eye on the door, which means that she’s the first one to catch sight of Matthew Tkachuk, Flames captain, walk in, looking like, well, the nicest word she can think of is a mess.

 

“Jesus fucking Christ,” she mutters under her breath, sighing in exasperation.

 

He moves to go to his stall but she steps in front of him, glaring. As she looks him over, eyes noting the disaster of his hair, the puffiness of his lip, the stain - oh god what the fuck - on his pants, the wrinkles to his jersey and the way it’s been awkwardly put on, and finally the teeth marks at his neck. He’d been gone for 10 minutes, how in the actual world.

 

She grabs a towel, shoves it around his neck and snaps her fingers, “Jersey off Matthew, I can’t have you looking like this when the cameras are on you, the entirety of Canada is going to know you’ve just been blown in a storage closet.”

 

While Matt is throwing his jersey in the laundry and trying to fix his hair so it looks like helmet hair and not sex hair - It doesn’t seem like there’s a difference but trust her, there is - Anne pulls out her phone to text Shannon, the Leafs PR girl, who she definitely owes a drink to. Normally, that would just be because it’s tradition to buy the PR girl of the Stanley cup champions a drink after you play them because, the things they have seen this past June….

 

But tonight, it’s also we saved our captains from themselves, and that deserves cocktails.

 

Me: _did your captain also walk in late?_ _🤬🤬🤬_

Shannon: _looking like he’d just gotten his dick wet? Yep_

Me: _when we’re sober we should come up with a plan_

Shannon: _so tomorrow when you land_

Me:   _👍_ _I have stuff from another player in drafts_

Shannon: _same_

Shannon: _*eye roll* I’ll meet you by my car, I need to save that player from himself before the media talks with him_

Me: _obvious hickey???_

Shannon: _and he’s playing with his ring_

Me: _JFC GO_

 

There no response and Anne doesn’t expect one. She glances over Matthew, grabs the towel and arranges it so it’s completely covering the blooming bite marks and pushes toward his stall. She follows, watches the media swarm her captain and stands back. She’s close enough to hear everything and so Matt can see her but far enough that the media won’t notice her until she steps in. Normally, even with the fixing, there’s no way she’d let Matt speak to the media, he still looks like a wreck. As an intern for the Stars, she’d stopped the media from being able to talk to players after games because they’d come in clearly just having been doing _things_ in a storage closet but she can’t afford Matthew the normal courtesy. Captain, Hat Trick, Second Star and being in Toronto means that he’s got to speak to the media, even if she’s going to make it short.

 

He’s getting asked about his hat trick and she whirls around because all she hears is loud loud laughter. It’s Noah, doubled over and red faced as he listens to Matt’s answer as the captain says, “yeah, there’s a bit of a _competition_ between me and Auston,” he pauses and smirks, “I couldn’t just let him win.”

 

And even Anne can hear the undertones in Matt’s voice, the satisfied edge in his grin. One more question and she’s shutting down the media scrum.

 

Scott is the next to ask a question, “So you just lost to the defending champions, in overtime, while the two teams set an NHL record for goals in a game, how does that feel?”

 

“Obviously we wanted to win but the Leafs won the cup for a reason. They are a really good team and I’m proud that our guys pushed them to overtime.”

 

That was a pretty good answer and Anne is going to let the scrum continue. This time it’s James Mirtle from the Leafs beat, asking a question she can’t really hear because Noah, once again, looks like he’s going to die from laughter. What she does hear is Matt’s answer, “It’s always fun for me personally to play Auston, he’s a good friend of mine and for us to both get hat tricks was definitely a highlight of my night.”

 

Matt opens his mouth to add something but Anne swiftly steps in front of him. She doesn’t even have to say anything and the media disperses, the vast majority of them heading towards the door. Good, she’s mastered the art of being terrifying towards the press. She definitely needs to be. Matt gets up and heads into the shower, not before Noah walks over and shakes his head mockingly at his captain, waiting until the door swings shut to say, “And you get on my ass for being obvious Chucky? Seriously, you walked in and I was shocked that you weren’t wearing Matts’ jersey instead of your own.”

 

“Oh, wait until Jack gets a hat trick against you. I honestly don’t know how I scored considering I played the rest of the period hard.”

 

Anne has to cover her mouth to hide her laughter as Matt is immediately pelted with tape and socks and basically anything that the guys can find in short order to express their displeasure at hearing that information. Her job is done here, she shoots Matt a final warning glare as she leaves and he nods at her.

 

\-------------

 

Anne ducks into the second visiting locker room in as many games, spotting the blond hair that marks Noah Hanifin and heading over.

 

“Annie, what’s up?” Noah asks, grinning down at her.

 

“First of all, don’t call me Annie,” Anne says, grinning back, running her hands through her hair and taking a deep breath, “Look, you know well we had a close one with Matt and Auston last game and I know that we talked about you and Jack coming out but please, Noah, I am actually pleading with you, please whatever happens tonight wait until after media.”

 

“You’ll let me go home right away?” Noah asks, rising an eyebrow at her. Anne sighs, nodding. Noah beams in response, presses a kiss to her forehead and moves to tell Matt that he’ll be ducking out after the game, no matter what happens.

 

She pulls out her phone and finds the most active text thread, the one with Taylor, the Sabres PR girl.

 

Me: _so I just gave Noah the ok to duck out post media. You should give the same to Jack_

Taylor: _BRO BRO REALLY??? The entire team has been teasing him about showing Matthews up and getting a hat trick for the past 24 hours_

Taylor: _trust me he’s getting a hat trick_

Taylor: _actually, they probably should just leave considering the rumors I heard about your cap and Shannon’s two nights ago_

Me: _the rumors are true, if it had been any other night i would have pulled him from media_

Taylor: _if they do end up gushing about each other….._

Me: _how many convos have we had about this_

Taylor: _NOT FUCKING ENOUGH_

Me: _we legit found out 3 months ago that they’ve been MARRIED for 6 YEARS!!!!!_

Taylor: _LET’S NOT FORGET THEY BOUGHT A HOUSE TOGETHER IN BOSTON_

Me: _I already need a drink_

Taylor: _dude the game hasn’t started yet_

Me: _🍷🍷🍷🍷_

 

Anne can’t continue the conversation because she gets a phone call from the Front Office. They know that a player will probably being coming out and announcing a relationship with another male athlete during the course of this season or during the summer. After the debacle that happened with the Stars a few years ago when she worked there, Anne doesn’t trust the Front Office with anything personal. Especially not with the personal details of the personal lives of her players, especially a fellow queer like Noah. The only person who does get a heads up on these types of changes or revelations is the coach, at least for her. For Taylor, because of what Jack means to the franchise, because of who the owners are, she can and should keep management more in the loop.

 

Luckily, the phone call had nothing to do with Noah. Instead it was about wanting to include members of the management team in the behind the scenes features that will be done for the winter classic.

 

However, in hindsight, not giving management the details looks like it might come back to bite her in the ass. Especially as she continues to watch the game from the media box and watches as Jack gets a hat trick, as Noah takes a hooking penalty against him on the next shift they share, as they exchange words that she suspects are promises for later. As the game clock fades and the score is still tied, she pulls out her phone and sends a text to management.

 

Me: _btw, the player coming out is Hanifin and his husband is Jack Eichel. Yes, the one who just scored a hat trick against us. I figured we’d have more time to plan but it looks incredibly likely that one of them will say something tonight or within the next few days. I don’t expect to be consulted on the announcement but we have a press release with photos ready to be sent. Legal approves._

 

As intermission continues and the whirl of the Zamboni cleaning the ice sounds impossibly loud, her phone fills up with texts reacting. Just before the players come back on the ice she gets a text from the owner

 

Edwards: _I trust you. Good luck. Let Hanifin know we have his back._

Me: _Thank you_

 

The conversation that happened to get there, Anne doesn’t have the brain space for right now. She taps her phone, one eye on the game and one on her text thread with Taylor.

 

Taylor: _highly likely Jack is going to be obvious._

Me: _they don’t want to hide anymore_

Taylor: I _mean, we knew that dude_

Me: _yeah, the look on their faces when we said if the right moment came along at the meeting_

Taylor: _ngl that’s a highlight of my career_

Taylor: _I’ve never seen jack look so happy_

Me: _they have been together and hiding for almost 8 years_

Me: _it’s probably freeing_

Taylor: _for sure_

Taylor: _do we just let post game happen?_

Me: _yeah, I don’t think we should do the normal fixing up stuff either_

Taylor: _let them face the press looking wrecked_

Taylor: _that’s mean and I LOVE IT_

 

And oh god, they’re both going to be wrecked by the time they get back to locker room, as Anne notices Noah racing down the ice with the puck, pulling up and ripping it glove side above Hutton. Well, there’s absolutely no way that Noah won’t come into the locker room worse than Matt did two nights ago. She’s not going to be surprised if he comes in limping. A hat trick for Jack is enough to get them going on a normal night but a Noah overtime game winner, yeah she’ll be lucky if they even make it back to the locker room.

 

Taylor clearly had a similar thought based on the text Anne gets.

 

Taylor: _congrats!! Tonight’s a success if we get them in the locker room talking to the media_

Me: _drinks after?_

Taylor: _no shit bro_

 

She makes it to the locker room before the media arrives, still interviewing the coaches in the media press room. Leaning against the wall she watches the boys walk in, high on the win and happy for their teammate.

 

“Bets on if Hanny makes the plane this time?” Sam jokes, throwing his jersey in the hamper.

 

Gio laughs, “$100 on him missing the plane and us arriving in New York to frantic text messages.”

 

“$200 on him missing the plane and blatantly not giving a shit.” Johnny adds, to Sean’s obvious delight.

 

Matt, though he wears the C, enjoys betting as much any hockey player Anne’s known, especially when it has nothing to do with him, smirks and says, “$500 on him missing the plane and arriving tomorrow night really late.”

 

“Raise your hands if you’re participating,” Travis says, as the fine master, he also keeps track of the team bets, especially those that involve his defense partner.

 

Anne moves towards the whiteboard in the center of the room, ignoring the half naked sweaty men that surround her. She writes Noah’s, Johnny’s and Gio’s numbers on the board and watches the team realizes that Noah is still missing as the media walks in.

 

The media surround Gio and then Johnny and as Johnny is finishing up, thankfully both of them prolonging their answers for as much as possible, Noah literally stumbles into the locker room. As she’s glancing over at how much a wreck he is, worse than Matt at the Leafs two nights ago, Anne’s phone buzzes with a text from Taylor.

 

Taylor: _Are we 100% sure that we can’t fix anything?_

Me: _they do this, they deal with it_

Me: _i did nearly beg noah to wait before warmups tonight_

Taylor: _👍_

 

“Jersey off or on Noah?” Anne asks and Noah raises an eyebrow, realization drawing on his face. He hugs her very briefly, whispering, “thank you,” and taking off his jersey, throwing it in the laundry and settling in his stall. Anne’s eyes track the dried something on his lips, which he licks off, smirking, the second before the media notices him and surrounds him.

 

She’s standing close enough to hear every single word and her fingers itch to give him a towel to the cover the teeth marks on his neck, to force him in a jersey to hide the purpling bruises at his hip, to give him a hat to hide the sex hair but he wants people to know and the timing of it is right. She knows the moment that Matt sees what Noah looks like because she hears a whispered, “holy shit,” from 3 feet from her.

 

“So how do you feel about the win?” is the first question and Noah takes a moment to breathe, before speaking, “It’s always fun to win but tonight it’s especially awesome because I get to go home with my husband after we played such great games.”

 

There’s absolute silence in the room, which is a first, and then it goes nuts. Eventually over the din, both her and Noah can hear someone asking him to repeat what he said. Anne can see the look of disdain on Noah’s face as he glances down at the mass of phones recording his every word. However, she needs him to be cool and glares at him until he sighs and goes, “my husband got a hat trick, I’m looking forward to going home.”

 

It’s Scott that speaks then, confusion clear in his voice, “Wait, Noah, the team doesn’t get back to Calgary until after the New York, New Jersey and DC games, which isn’t for another week.”

 

“Yeah, so.” Noah says, and Anne hears a low “hey” from beside her, turning slightly to see that Elias, grinning, had elbowed a still laughing Matt.

 

“How can you be going home?” Scott asks.

 

“My _husband_ ,” here, Noah pauses to grin, letting the word hang in the locker room, “has a house in Buffalo, my name’s on the lease. I have a key. I’m pretty sure that makes it my home.”

 

“How long have you been married?” Melissa of the Buffalo beat asks.

 

Noah grins, hands resting on his lap, “Since 2014. We got married after we won gold at the World Juniors.”

 

There’s gasps and Anne can see the wheels turning in some of the longtime reporters minds’, but no one is willing to let Noah answer directly, they aren’t gossips.  However, Kristen, one of the longtime members of the Flames beat, who has clearly figured it out, gives him the perfect opening, “Going back to the game, Jack Eichel got a hat trick and seemed to imitate the celebration of Auston Matthews and your Captain, Matthew Tkachuk from the last game you played. What did you think of that?”

 

Noah grins at Kristen, leaning forward, really displaying the marks dotting his skin. Before he answers, he looks over the media to glance at her and Anne can’t help the sigh that comes out before she gives him a thumbs up.  

 

“I think it was pretty pointed. I mean, I know very well what our deal is when he gets a hat trick, he doesn’t have to slide to his knees in front of me and stick his tongue out.” he chuckles, “I was really glad it was the dying seconds of third, meant I didn’t have to play hard because my husband still enjoys teasing me.”

 

Jesus fucking christ, these boys are going to drive her into an early grave. She’s happy for them though and figures that she should end the time with media for Noah before he spills more things that no one needs to be made public. Also they still have to talk Jack and well, that’s a recipe for disaster but also hilarity.

 

She steps in front of Noah and waits, tapping her foot and pulling out her phone. She texts Taylor briefly.

 

Me: _Meet when Jack finishes media. Noah came out and basically said Jack was his husband_

Taylor: _sure dude_

Taylor: _Jack still looks wrecked, everyone else has showered and he’s going to get asked about it_

 

There’s a gap of about 5 minutes before her phone buzzes, Noah had just ducked out of the locker room, hair still wet and bag slung over his shoulder.

 

Taylor: _JFC THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA_

Taylor: _I just stopped Jack’s press scrum after 2 questions_

Taylor: _I am fond but he is such a little shit_

 

Anne pulls up twitter and sees that it’s going crazy over Noah’s revelation and now whatever Jack said. Her phone buzzes and she sees that Taylor sent her a video of the press scrum.

 

Anne hits play and hears Melissa’s voice asking, “ Did you get injured Jack? That looks like a bad bruise on your hip.”

 

She doesn’t even have to watch the footage to know that Jack is wearing a massive smirk, she can hear it in his voice as he responds, “No, that bruise is from my husband sucking my dick in congratulations for the hat trick.”

 

Anne has to lean against the wall and thank whatever god exists that even though she has to deal with both Noah and Matt, she doesn’t have to deal with Jack. Holy shit, Taylor needs all the drinks and Anne shoots her a text, heading over to their normal meeting space in the parking lot.

 

Me: _DRINKS NOW WTF_

Taylor: _THANK YOU!_

Me: _I’m buying omg_

 

Anne pulls Taylor into a quick hug before they walk over to Taylor’s car. As they’re leaving they see two people clutching each other, walking a little closer Anne realizes that it’s the men of the hour, Jack and Noah. They’re completely wrapped up in each other, Noah’s hands resting on Jack’s hips, Jack’s hand fisted in Noah’s hair, kissing like they can survive just on each other. It’s public and tender and they pull apart long enough for Jack to entangle their hands and lead Noah to his car. Jack tosses Noah the keys, presses another kiss to his husband’s lips and slides in the passenger seat. Anne can see Noah’s grin as he gets behind the wheel, leans over to kiss Jack again, intertwine their hands on the dashboard and smoothly backs out of the parking lot in a car that’s as familiar to him as the owner. Anne suddenly remembers that old SI profile, the one which ended stating that Buffalo has Jack and she thinks that it might need an adduman.

 

One that reads:

 

After all, they’ve got Jack and Jack has Noah.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I really really hope you all enjoyed. Comments and kudos mean the world to me!!!
> 
> find me on twitter at @arrowsanddemons  
>  
> 
> Additional information that didn't make it in the main story but I feel you all should know!
> 
>  
> 
> the PR teams have bets, sometimes those include the coaches. That is the case with the Stars regarding Tyler and Jamie. When they eventually do get together, Monty misses the pot by one day and he ends up bag-skating the team for a bit at practice because he lost out on nearly 1 million. 
> 
> An additional note about PR that I want you all to know is that Devils PR, Sarah, when Mikey gets called up gives him two jersey options, one is just McLeod, 41 and the other says Bastian, 41. the Devils PR team is 100% sure that the team's two best prospects from 2016 are married to each other and Mikey's face when he looks at the jersey says that they were right.
> 
> Jack and Noah do actually do a vow renewal ceremony, Jeff officiates as he's the most connected to both of them. 
> 
> During the Sabres' second round series in 2021, they play the Bruins and Noah finds that in his house he has the custom Bruins jersey that Jack's parents bought him back in college with Eichel 9 on it. Obviously he wears it and the Sabres win, with Jack having a three point night. He wears for the rest of the series, even when the Flames have their own game, he wears that jersey to the rink and changes into his own.
> 
> The Flames win the cup in 2024 and Matt and Auston come out during the celebration on the ice. Auston jumps on Matt and they end up on the ice, Auston on top of Matt, kissing the daylights out of him. The cameras find them just as they break apart and Auston pulls Matt to his feet. They get interviewed and Auston, arm still wrapped around Matt, jokes but not really, "we should just trade rings now, babe, it's not as though we can trade last names."  
> Matt cracks up at that and goes, "yeah, Matthew Matthews is terrible."  
> Yes, this is Auston's way of proposing and Matt's way of saying yes and then they make out and the camera has to find somewhere else to focus on. 
> 
> They do actually get married but they keep their own last names unlike Jack and Noah who had hyphenated.
> 
> Noah's contract is actually up at the end of the 2024 season and everyone expects him to stay with the Flames, yeah no. Noah decides he's spent too long apart from his husband and joins the Sabres, who proceed to win a cup next year for the first time in decades. The names on the Cup read Noah Hanifin-Eichel and Jack Hanifin-Eichel. They are that duo.


End file.
